Eating out in Covent Garden

So now I have been on my first audition trip after becoming vegan!

My first advice is to do some research before leaving home. I found a hotel close to the opera house and located the restaurants around it who were vegan friendly. When I arrived I was so tired, that I just ended up going to my local pizzeria. They didn't have a vegan pizza on the menu, but were really friendly and made a pizza especially for my vegan needs. And it tasted fantastic!

My beautiful pizza!

I want to thank Zizzi for making me a very tasty and beautiful meal. (And when I left the restaurant with my take-away pizza I noticed a homeless man sitting outside in a blanket. I asked him if he wanted some of it, and gave him some slices). I had noticed that many shops in London, and my hotel had a system of money donation to charities for the homeless, but somehow I felt some more immediate action was needed). 

Anyway, beautiful, strangely long pizza. I enjoyed it and it was really easy to obtain. It costed me £12 pounds and it was worth it!

For breakfast the day after I asked for some soya milk for my cereal and got it. If I wanted anything on my toast though the pickings where slim. But tomato beans was ok, with margarine on toast. 


Lunch was also really (and for a Norwegian) surprisingly easy to find! First my friend and I went to Food for thought, but as I didn't have any cash and the cash point outside was empty we went a little further and found a wonderful friendly place called Wild Food Cafe. Both places was about 5 minutes walk from Covent Garden tube station.

Wild Food Cafe had several choices for me to choose from. An unusual feeling

Shitake/olive burger! Mmmm...

for me after I became vegan, at least when in Norway.  The staff were very friendly, helpful and took pride in their food. I love it! Bless you, I had a great meal after a stressful but exhilarating day :) 

I had the Olive-Shitake burger on some flat bread made with tomatoes. It was yummy! And again, beautifully presented. Thumbs up!
It costed me £ 11.50, and again worth every penny. (well...or cent...pound ;) 


All in all, my London-vegan-food-experience were a great success and I felt I didn't miss out just because I was a vegan. I saw food possibilities all around me, also with easy "take away" and snack to have in your purse just in case. At least if you are in the Covent Garden area vegan food is easy. But in the end, being vegan in London is SO much easier than being vegan in Norway. It is both sad and scary that take away food is so extremely available and so cheap, while choosing the healthier option (for both you and the planet) you will have to go looking for a while and often pay more . And no, it is not only about costumer demand. But I repeat again, eating vegan at home is much easier and also much cheaper than it used to be!



Here are some pictures (and the Wild Food Cafe menu). 
Enjoy!

Healthy and awesome food!

Several choices you day? Oh myy...

Yummy!

My tasty burger! Isn't it beautiful?

Food, glorious food!

I admit, I never thought I would be one of those people who takes pictures of their food and blog about it, but then I again I never thought in a million years I would be vegan. So, hey!

Just want to make a post to you out there who (like me) was a bit scared of fancy-smancy recipes made by perfect chefs, beautiful people with awesome taste in design and mad skills in the art of blogging. Don't get me wrong; I adore these people, I follow your blogs and get inspired by you. But I am not as fantastic. I guess you can say I am on another level. Lower, but still I think my food is healthy and tastes good. (Or maybe it comes down to me being lazy? But I like fast food! Just need it to be healthy & cruelty-free ;)

So maybe you (the reader) feels scared of trying vegan? Maybe you think that you have to make everything from scratch, (that is fun by the way), but you don't have to! But when you do, it can be both fast and truly YUMMY!


So in an attempt to show how easy, tasty and fast making vegan food can be: Here are some examples of my own meals this week. 

TACO

I promise you, nothing is easier than this. And healthy! For this taco dinner I used max 15 minutes to prepare. I made my own basic salsa from a box of crushed tomatoes + coriander & Basel (spices). As cheese, I just sprinkled on some nutritional yeast. The only thing you need to do is to chop vegetables and open a can, warm the taco shells/fajitas/enchiladas wraps, and fry soy "meat" with some taco spices. It is REALLY simple, tastes great and it's cruelty-free!

(Norwegians: I used soy"kjøttdeig" fra Anamma, and bought it in a Rema 1000. You can also buy "dried" chunks of soy in SunKost. Nutritional yeast I got from iHerb.com )

Salad

Yeah, I used to think this was reeeally boring unless it had some meat in it. But after dropping meat I have also become a bit more adventurous. Love it!

For this easy & quickly made salad I used: Spinach, avocado, cherry tomatoes, thinly cut red onion, dried cranberries, pomegranate and some fine rice noodles. (Takes 1-2 min!) If one want to make it a bit more exciting you can add a little dash of balsamic oil (I didn't use this when I still had noodles left in my bowl). 

Sausages & something weird on the side!

Want "fast food"? You can still have sausages! There are several types of vegan sausages out there, so just find your favorite.

Here I wanted to have some vegetables I usually didn't use with sausages. So I choose to fry a whole plantain and fry (Malabar?) spinach and long beans with some garlic and chili. Just before I ate i drizzled some lime and sea salt on my plantains. 

Tasted great. I added to the strange experience by having some ketchup on my sausages. It was an unusual meal, but I enjoyed it even so!

(Norwegians: I bought the rice noodles in Meny, and the spinach, beans and plantain in a Asian shop on Grønland. REALLY cheap. I should have remembered to buy noodles there as well;)


Breakfast


I have eaten gluten-free bread, alpero yogurth and a wide variety of spreads. (I am testing things, see my other post here). Breakfast is the meal I usually looks forward to the most, I don't know why. Therefor I have been fuzzing about it quite some time. But till now I have mainly eaten bread and fruit for breakfast. I tried a smoothie one day, but that isn't enough for me. (Or I haven't found a good recipe yet). 



Snack

My favorite "snack" for the two last weeks have been "Virgin Pina Colada". That is very easy to make. I just take a bit over 1 cup of fresh cut pineapple, 1 cup of coconut milk, 3-4 icecubes and 1 spoon of agave syrup. Use a blender and have yourself two big glasses of pineapple-coconut-bliss!

When I used to say that vegan food must be really boring, dry and uninteresting. Shame on me, I take it back! 


But I had to try it to know it. 


I am still new and would love to get your best (easy) meals, please contact me with pictures and recipes-for-dummies! :) 

Vegan breakfast (what can we eat?)

Vegan breakfast

So, this was the hardest part for me. As a Norwegian I eat a lot of bread, often both for breakfast and lunch. The first week I only ate peanut butter and jam as I didn't know where to find anything I could eat, after being a big time cheese eater my whole life. Booooring! So if you want to be vegan and don't know what to eat on your bread, please read on! 


Spreads


Jams (but they put animal products in jams? Seriously?)
Argh. Be careful and read the labels, sometimes it includes gelatin). Easy, cheap and available, but not as healthy. A great tip is to make your own apple jam. SO easy, quick and you don't have to put much sugar in it, unless you want to store it for a long time. (I have made a great apple jam by boiling it with a few sticks of cinnamon. Yummy!)

"Cheese"

Yay! As a lover of cheese I was thrilled to know there are nice vegan "cheeses" available. On bread and crispbread I recommend Jeezini. They have several different flavours and it both look and taste like similar types of (real) cheese. Another great thing is that it doesn't contain palm oil.

Vegancheese.co.uk
Bute Island (Sheese)

Tofutti cheese

Daiya dairy-free

If you are Norwegian I have bought Jeezini in "Sunkost" stores. (F.eks: Gunerius) I have also seen Bute Island cheeses and tofutti cream cheeses in Meny stores. 

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Cream cheeses

I have only tasted Tofutti cream cheese till now. And it is a good vegan "Philadelphia cheese". I have seen if you want to make a cheese cake you can add tofutti instead of your normal dairy cream cheese. To make it a bit healthier and interesting I put some avocado/tomato on it. Lovely! It is a great base for making interesting sandwiches. Just add whatever green and healthy stuff on and feel great!

(Norwegians: I have found this in Meny stores). 

"Meat"

Mock meat & Jeezini cheese

Yeah, I used to love meat on my bread. I admit it. So I was VERY surprised and happy to find products that were cruelty-free but still satisfied my "meat-hunger".

These two are ok tofu "meats", quite strong in taste.

(Norwegians; Also bought at "SunKost" at Gunerius and in a "Life" store at Grønland). 


Paté & spread

Pepper, chilli taste

I used to love liver paté and again happy to find vegan alternatives. The Granovita Organic Herb is the one closest in my opinion. The other flavors they offer are great if you want an interesting spread. 

Flavors: Spicy mexican, herbs, tangy tomato, original, mushroom. 

I also have bought this Cremisso spread, but haven't tried it yet!

(Norwegians: I have found this in Meny stores. They are our friends obviously ;) 


Mayonnaise

There are vegan alternatives out there, or you can make your own. In Norway you can buy it in Meny stores, although it is a bit pricey. Perhaps you can make your own? 


Margarine

This is easy to find, but choose something without palm oil.There several almond, hemp and nut alternatives, but I haven't tried them out yet. The most common I find is soy alternatives. 


Cereal

Sometime you just want to eat some cereal and skip the bread. I thought it was difficult to drop the milk at first, but then I tried Rice milk and almond milk. I think these are the best for cereal, but you can try and find what you prefer! (There are also different brands of "milk" so you can try and find your favorite). 

When I drink;

Chai latte: Almond milk
Latte: Soya milk
Cereals: Almond and rice milk. 

PS: Remember to buy unsweetened milk, or you get a lot of sugar. 

(Norwegians: Rice, oat and soya is easy to find in almost any store. But almond I have bought in Sunkost and Life stores). 



Yogurt

I love yogurt and Alpro have several flavors for us to enjoy! My cats loves yogurt and still think this is the real deal ;) These are best served cold straight from the fridge, when they get warmer they start tasting a lot more like soya. 

You can make it more interesting (and healthy) by adding berries and seeds! 




Then of course you can eat something else for breakfast? 

Basic vegan pancakes
Strawberry shortage pancakes
Raw Buckwheat Porridge
Apple pie oatmeal
Many different vegan porridges for you to explore!



Fun fact about my journey to veganism

14 days before I became a vegan overnight, I had to explain why I was a vegetarian. I ended my "defense" by saying; "but I am not a vegan, because they are really extreme and wouldn't it be silly to stop eating cheese?" BAM! 14 days later I was a vegan, and wow was I surprised. 
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My view on Vegans before I became one ;)

I blame it all on "Earthlings" (see my post about my experience). I have never seen anything on TV who have made a greater impact on my life, than this documentary. I had to face my own hypocrisy and I just couldn't be a part of it any longer. Later I saw "Fork over Knives" who had a different angle (mainly on human health) and also strengthened my resolve.